


the dark tower: a space odyssey

by janie_tangerine



Category: Dark Tower - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Crack, Gen, or somewhat crack at least
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-16
Updated: 2012-03-16
Packaged: 2017-11-02 01:02:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/363280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janie_tangerine/pseuds/janie_tangerine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>All right, it is a serious journey, but you can’t blame Eddie if once in a while he jokes about it; when you’re in space, headed towards a black hole, in company of a crazy scientist, a girl who switches personalities like you turn on and off the light, a still grieving kid and a dog-slash-ferret that repeats what you say, either you make fun of that or you don’t survive.</i> Or: wherein the Dark Tower is a black hole and Roland is the scientist who wants to neutralize it to save the universe along with his small and weird crew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the dark tower: a space odyssey

**Author's Note:**

  * For [foundwanders](https://archiveofourown.org/users/foundwanders/gifts).



> Written for a comment fic meme ages ago; characters belong to Stephen King, title is stolen from a certain very famous movie, the only thing that's mine is the crack.

“This journey isn’t a _joke_ ,” Roland says for the umpteenth time, and Eddie asks himself for the umpteenth time what possessed him to accept.

Right, he remembers, after all it was a possible death sentence against the highly likely chance of dying sucked in by a dark hole that in fifty years or so might eat the Earth if some suicidal fools don’t stop it, and when he was a stupid little kid and Henry still hadn’t been using, he had wanted to be an astronaut.

Then again, when you’re stranded on a spaceship named _ka-tet_ (after the name of the entire project – apparently _ka_ means _fate_ in some language Eddie hadn’t caught when being explained), with only three other people and some strange kind of pet for company, you can’t be expected to take everything so goddamn _seriously_.

Also, Eddie has an idea that no one thinks this little expedition is ever going to work, considering where their boss had gone to find the members and the budget he was given.

Not to mention that if Henry was still alive Eddie would probably kill him himself – one thing is starting to shoot up and bring your little brother along, another is actually do illegal shit and driving while under the influence after stealing a ton of heroin from your dealer, who accidentally works for the mafia, too. Oh, and killing an entire family because of course you don’t watch the lights when you do such a thing. The problem is that Eddie had been in the car too (under the influence as well), and Henry had died on the spot, and no one was going to believe Eddie when he said that he had honestly no idea and that Henry had just dragged him out of the house and into the car.

And then six months later he’s sure they’re going to have his head and this tall, dark and ugly guy who looks like Clint Eastwood and looks at you with eyes that seem to take you apart just by meeting yours comes into his cell and starts blathering. About this dark hole aptly named _dark tower_ that might eat the solar system, and then it turns out that he’s some kind of soldier-scientist that seems right out of _Terminator_ and that he has a plan to make the thing implode. Except that no one thinks it’s worth a damn and after the hole ate the last two spaceships that were sent in its way, no competent scientist would risk their neck. Except for said dark, tall and ugly (whose name is Roland, by the way), who has therefore the budget for a small ship and two, maximum three people. Eddie had wanted to know why the heck was Roland asking _him_ , and the answer had been that Eddie was apparently the only match for all the requirements Roland had put in the search engine among every prisoner sentenced to death or life service in the entire US. And that it also was clear that he hadn’t really done anything of what they were imprisoning him for, which meant that Roland wasn’t bringing a deranged serial killer on the ship.

So Eddie had said yes – hell, if Roland’s crazy plan worked he had saved his life and if not, well, he’d get to live a while longer.

Then he had found out that the same way Roland’s search engine had given him as a result for the inmates, it had also searched in psychiatric wards in hospitals and that’s where Roland had found the second person.

Susannah is a lovely girl, Eddie thinks, who he admires if only because she manages to live on a spaceship without a problem even if on Earth she was stuck on a wheelchair (some crazy serial killer had pushed her under a subway when she was eight or so). Detta, her second personality, is a lot less lovely and curses a lot more, but she had appreciated not being in said psychiatric ward enough to keep on piloting the ship.

Detta is also convinced that Roland and Eddie are fucking. Susannah always apologizes whenever she’s back in control. Eddie never tells her that sometimes he thinks he wouldn’t mind if they were.

Then there’s Jake, who is twelve and was never supposed to be here, but he’s the son of one of the people who died when it was first found out about the Dark Tower – he had been in a spaceship headed towards Orion and they had encountered the thing and that was it. Jake’s dad was also Roland’s colleague or something like that and really, Eddie’s confirmation that Roland is insane was finding out that he had actually hid the kid in the ship so that he could come with them. Since Jake was so set on going. Oh, and the kid also brought his genetically modified pet – Eddie is sure the thing is a mix between a dog, a ferret and a parrot, since it repeats what you say.

Also, the way Roland talks about that hole is frightening enough that it reminds Eddie of Ahab in _Moby Dick_ , and every time Eddie thinks that he regrets having ever read that book in prison. All right, it is a serious journey, but you can’t blame Eddie if once in a while he jokes about it; when you’re in space, headed towards a black hole, in company of a crazy scientist, a girl who switches personalities like you turn on and off the light, a still grieving kid and a dog-slash-ferret that repeats what you say, either you make fun of that or you don’t survive.

“Lighten up, I _know_. Geez, you forgot how to laugh or something?”

“More or less since all of my friends disappeared inside that,” Roland replies, and Eddie wishes he kept his mouth shut. Right – guy has reasons to get personal here. Apparently the ship that failed the second mission had been carrying his two best friends and his girlfriend – proof that you should never limit the extent of your social life to your work environment.

“All right, sorry. That was uncalled for. It’s just – I can’t go against almost certain death so seriously. I’m sure it was in my profile.”

From the pilot’s cabin, Detta shouts that they should just get on with it and suck each other off once and for all.

Roland remains absolutely nonplussed.

“It was. And while it’s irritating, I guess it’s better than resentful.”

“Why the hell should I be resentful? If it wasn’t for you I’d be dead already. And not so honorably.”

Roland doesn’t smile – not quite – but his shoulders lose tension. Just slightly.

“I know how hopeless this quest is. And don’t think I don’t regret having brought Jake along, even if he chose it. But I can’t just let it go.”

Eddie nods, keeping any remark to himself. (He resents Roland a lot less since Jake told him that his parents were divorced, his mother had moved to Europe and hadn’t been back when his father disappeared; the kid was apparently living with Roland because there was no one else who’ d take him in and had no other close family.)

“If it takes my life, I’m going to stop it.”

_And ours_ , Eddie thinks, but then again he isn’t the kind of ass who thinks his own life worth more than… well, the universe. Considering how fast the Dark Tower has been growing (and really, he had always imagined dark holes as… _holes_ , not as vertical endless rectangles) it has probably put an end to at least a couple of galaxies. Maybe it also put an end to other kinds of life – not that Eddie ever was one to think that aliens were on Area 51, but he has always figured that if there was life on Earth, it _had_ to be somewhere else too if only for mere probability. He wouldn’t bet money on their little ship to stop its advance, but hey, if Roland has spent three years finding a way and he’s so sure that it’ll work, then Eddie will just buy it. It’s not as if the ship doesn’t need maintenance. With Roland studying maps and revising his plans all day and Susannah piloting the ship (while training she had ended up being the best at it, so they leave it to her) someone needs to clean and cook and think about the nosy little things that make a ship a place you can live in. (Clearly the _Ka-Tet_ isn’t the kind of fancy new ship where dust sweeps itself off and computers cook delicious Thai dinners for you; not only they gave Roland a crappy crew, they also gave him a crappy ship.) He doesn’t have time to get bored.

“We will. You think we all followed you here because dangerous situations give us thrills?” He has discussed it with Susannah at times – the both of them didn’t go on a suicide mission just because it was still better than what they had. They did it also because if Roland really manages to make that thing implode, they save their planet. “Don’t brood too much. There are still at least two years ahead before we pull a _2001_ and start arguing with the autopilot. At least you could say what you want for dinner for once.”

Roland rolls his eyes at him, but it’s almost a fond gesture. Eddie counts it as a victory.

“Are you sure you don’t know already?”

Right, Eddie thinks. The only thing Roland seems to genuinely like eating are burritos. Eddie should be thankful that there are supplies for eating burritos for the next ten years.

“I’m afraid I do. Fine, fine, but you can forget the extra onions.”

He heads for the kitchen, almost tripping into Jake’s furry friend. He hears Detta screaming that they’re like an old married couple and they really should fuck each other good and proper.

He thinks that if he survives he could write a book about all of this, but he also suspects no one would believe that _they_ did save the world, after all. But it’s fine enough. If anything, the next two years won’t be boring.


End file.
